Conventionally, a liquid crystal element has been generally used as a component of an information display section provided in a game device such as a pachinko machine.
It is necessary that such a recent game device display, on its information display section, displays a character object that is disposed behind the liquid crystal display element together with information on the liquid crystal display panel of the liquid crystal display device. The following description explains this with reference to FIG. 17 that schematically illustrates a configuration of a game device and (a) through (c) of FIG. 18 each illustrating a display of an information display section of the game device.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 17, a game device 90 has a front surface on which a round game board 92 is provided so as to show a state of a game. The game board 92 has an information display section 94, constituted mainly by a liquid crystal display element, which is provided in substantially the center of the game board 92.
The information display section 94 displays various information according to situations of the game. For example, in a case where the game device 90 has a three-digit number that changes depending on situations of the game like a slot machine, the information display section 94 displays a number such as “567” as illustrated in (a) of FIG. 18, on the liquid crystal panel of the liquid crystal display element.
When the three-digit number coincides with a predetermined number such as “777” shown in (b) of FIG. 18, the region, where the number “7” in the center of the three-digit number is displayed, becomes transparent. As a result, as illustrated in (c) of FIG. 18, the information display section 94 displays (i) the numbers “7” and “7” that are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel and (ii) a character object 62 (doll) that is disposed beforehand at a rear of the liquid crystal display element.
(Patent Literature 1)
Various techniques have been proposed to attain such a display.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal is used as an LCD shutter. The following describes this technique with reference to FIGS. 19 to 22. FIG. 19 is a front view illustrating a configuration of an entire game device disclosed in Patent Literature 1. As illustrated in FIG. 19, a game device 101 disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a center case 111 in a center part of its game board 106. An image display device 108 is provided in the center case 111 for displaying images.
More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 20 which is an exploded perspective view illustrating a configuration of the center case 111, the center case 111 mainly includes an armor section 409, the image display device 108, and a character object 506 provided behind the image display device 108.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 21 which is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of the image display device 108, the image display device 108 includes a first liquid crystal panel 501, diffusing plates 502, a light guide plate 503, a reflective plate 504, and an LCD shutter 50, provided in this order. Moreover, an image display LCD light source 513 is provided near one end of the light guide plate 503, and a character object lighting source 514 is provided near one end of the LCD shutter 505.
According to the game device 101 disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the LCD shutter 505 of the image display device 108 is realized by polymer-dispersed liquid crystal. This causes switching between visibility and invisibility of the character object 506. The following description explains this with reference to (a) and (b) of FIG. 22, which is an explanatory diagram of an operation principle of the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal by which the LCD shutter 505 is realized. (a) of FIG. 22 illustrates how liquid crystal molecules are aligned while a voltage is being applied to the liquid crystal, and (b) of FIG. 22 illustrates how the liquid crystal molecules are aligned while no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal.
As shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 22, the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal has a light transmitting state which differs depending on whether or not a voltage is applied to its liquid crystal layer. Specifically, while a voltage is being applied to the liquid crystal layer, light transmits through the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (LCD shutter 505: ON) as illustrated in (a) of FIG. 22, and therefore a game player can see the character object 506 behind the image display device 108.
On the other hand, while no voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, light is scattered by the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal, thereby causing cloudiness in the liquid crystal (LCD shutter 505: OFF). As a result, the game player cannot see the character object 506 behind the image display device 108.
It is thus possible, by using the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal, that the game device 101 disclosed in Patent Literature 1 controls visibility (non-shielded/shielded) of the character object 506 behind the image display device 108.